5th Fleet

5th Fleet is a video game in the strategy genre developed by Stanley Associates and published by Avalon Hill Game Company, The originally released in 1994. It is currently playable on DOS.

One of the best board games ever made, th Fleet is a great naval simulation based on the Avalon Hill board game of the same name.

PC Gamer's review has the lowdown on this excellent game: 'Avalon Hill's new PC edition of th Fleet strikes me as one of the best board game conversions I've ever seen. The entire game shines with crisp, colorful graphics and features one of the cleanest interfaces on the market. ' Joe Balkoski, designer of the original classic board game, worked closely with project manager Mike Inella, whose team at Stanley Associates included veterans with a wealth of experience in developing software for the military. Everyone involved wanted to get it right, and it shows.

The action takes place in the vast and volatile region bounded on the west by the Gulf of Suez and the Horn of Africa, and on the east by Malaysia. In addition to the Indian Ocean, this theater of war includes all the vital waterways of the Middle East and strategic choke points. Eleven scenarios are included, all based on the assumption that large segments of the former Soviet Navy are committed to various client states in this unstable region. Thus, in addition to former USSR ships, the player may face Indonesian, Pakistani or Indian units.

The scenarios are ranked according to their complexity: a low-level game usually lasts one hour, a medium-level game lasts two to three hours, and there is a 30-turn monster campaign that includes the possibility of replenishing depleted missile inventories at friendly bases. Starting locations are randomized for each game, so the replay value is much greater than the 'eleven scenarios' might lead one to believe. Each game is controlled from a 'CIC' screen, where you can select scenarios, set up the game for two-person or e-mail play, and consult the tactical reference monitor, a handy guide from Janes-Fighting-Ships that shows a crisp picture of each ship or aircraft in the game, along with its real-life vital statistics and ratings in terms of the simulation.

Overall battle management is done from a strategic map based on satellite reconnaissance data. All known sightings can be displayed, by type, and reconnaissance flights can be vectored to the various tactical zones shown. When an enemy unit is detected by its sensors, it is displayed along with any available information on individual ships in that formation.

Tactical action takes place on richly detailed operational screens, whose hexagonal grids can be turned on and off. Each hexagon represents 50 miles, and the icons for air, submarine and surface units are exactly the same as in the board game. Movement is simple. Just click on the unit you want to maneuver and drag the mouse to the destination hexagon. Combat is also easy to initiate: click on the unit you want to attack, either naval or air, activate the 'attack' button and then click on the enemy unit you have targeted. A combat display screen will then appear, highlighting each weapon system capable of hitting the selected enemy target, along with the number of missiles or torpedoes available to fire. Using this well-designed screen, it is very easy to scroll through your ships and assign them the targets they are most likely to hit.

Animated missiles, aircraft and explosions add a bit of graphical pizzazz to the combat routines, after which a score screen appears telling you how many of your SSNs have hit or missed. Victory points are awarded for sinkings (though not, oddly, for damage inflicted) and for convoys brought safely to their targets.

I was seduced by the clarity, elegance and energy of the fleet . But the more I played, the more I respected the way it subsumes a huge amount of data into such a playable engine, and then slowly reveals the subtleties implicit in that database through the growing experience of the individual player. After the first time one of your task forces is destroyed by a submarine you knew nothing about, you learn the value of mixing some aircraft with high 'submarine detection' ratings into your CAP deterrent force.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.